Tonight brings us a fabulous meeting of Venus and the Pleiades open star cluster. I write about this tiny cluster a lot, but it's a beautiful sight, and best of all, it's easy to find and enjoy with no optical aid.

Just gaze toward the southwest and find Venus as a brilliant silver sky ornament. The Pleiades sit next to it and dazzle the eye with all their sparkle. You can turn up the thrill by aiming binoculars at this arrangement since magnification really makes the stars stand out and shows their true colors.

A telescope trained on Venus will show it as a gleaming half crescent. It's truly spectacular and at its brightest for the year.

Below this showstopping arrangement sits Jupiter. It's bright and deserves a look with a telescope. With magnification you can admire the colored bands or zones of this planet giant and also enjoy the four tiny Jovian moons alongside.

Moving upward and directly left of Venus, you'll notice the constellation Taurus the bull. Taurus is pretty cool and sports a red, beaming eye named Aldebaran.

The large V-shape group of stars that outlines the bull's head is known as the Hyades. The Hyades may be difficult to pick out of a bright city sky but are visible with the naked eye from dark rural areas.

Orion can be found below Taurus, and it's one of the sky's most recognized patterns.

The moon will be perched just below Mars this evening, so it's an easy guide for finding the Red Planet.

Mars sits left of Regulus, which marks the heart of the lion.

Saturn can be found rising in the east about 9:15 most evenings. It's easy to distinguish Saturn from its neighboring star Spica. Saturn glows a creamy yellow and doesn't twinkle with a searing shine like Spica does.

A telescope will easily reveal Saturn as the night's beauty with rings.

Monday brings us a double-dip special with two International Space Station passes.

The first one happens at 6:04 a.m. and arrives in the west near Saturn.

It follows a short track that takes it above the moon in the south and then skims along the top of Scorpius.

The second pass happens at 8:57 p.m. and appears in the southwest.

The ISS will cruise high overhead and reach maximum altitude near Castor and Pollux at 9 p.m. It will vanish in the northeast at 9:03 p.m.